Tufted carpet

ABSTRACT

A process for making a tufted carpet in which cylindrical tufts of pile yarn are inserted in a backing fabric so that long ends project on one side to form a pile, and short ends project on the other side. The filaments of the short ends are splayed apart and fixed to the backing fabric with an adhesive.

Dec. 11,1973 s. sHoRROcK TUFTED CARPET Filed Dec. 15, 1971 3,778,330 Patented Dec. 11, 1973 States Patent ()1 fice I ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE f. 'A process for making a tufted carpet in which cylindrical tufts of pile yarn are inserted in a backing fabric so that long ends' project onone side to form a pile, and short ends project on the other side. The filaments of the short ends are splayedapart and fixed to the backing fabric with an adhesive.

My' invention relates to a tufted carpet and a method of manufacture thereof.

It is knownto make tufted carpets in a number of ways. Thus a continuous yarn may be employed which is forced through a backing-fabric to provide a plurality of looped tufts in a row along the fabric,'the yarn being inserted by a needle which piercesjthe fabric. The yarn then extends from one tuft to the next along the back of the fabric as a substantially cylindrical structure, and'all the yarn at the back of the carpet is then coated with adhessive such as latex in order to secure the tufts in position. The tufts after insertion may be cut to form a cut pile, or may be left uncut. Other methods of inserting pile are also known. Usually in such methods, a length of yarn of substantially cylindical section is left on the back of the fabric between adjacent tufts in a row, and latex applied to these stretches of cylindrical yarn.

It will be seen that since the adhesive is applied to the outside of the yarn, it may well be that the adhesive, more particularly if of a water base, may not penetrate to the centre of the yarn, more particularly if the material of the yarn is of a substantially non-water absorbent material such as nylon, or has an oily spin finish applied to it. This means that although each tuft is more or less secured to the backing fabric by the adhesive, the centre filaments of each tuft may be left without adhesive, and may therefore be pulled out by subsequent brushing or vacuum cleaning. This reduces the quantity of pile material in the carpet unnecessarily.

I have discovered that it is possible to inject tufts of pile material into a backing material as single elongated cylinders of yarn, without loops of yarn at the back of the fabric joining adjacent tufts on the front. I have also discovered that when such a tuft is inserted with the longer portion of the tuft forming a pile, the short portion of the tuft (the fixing end) projecting from the back of the carpet can be spread out, more particularly if the filaments thereof are crimped or prepared with a built-in series of stresses such that when the filaments thereof are heated or moistened, they tend to develop crimp.

I therefore make a carpet of individual cylindrically shaped tufts each separated from adjacent tufts, the filaments in each tuft being substantially parallel. Where the tuft penetrates the backing fabric, the latter owing to its inherent resilience, compresses the tuft so as to form a neck. The short ends of the filaments of the tufts projecting backwards through the fabric can be splayed out to form a head somewhat similar to that of a rivet, with the cut ends of each filament projecting away from the backing fabric. An adhesive such as a rubber latex suspension in water is then applied to the back of the backing fabric and to the splayed heads of the tufts, and since the latex is applied only to these ends, and not to the outside of a cylindrical yarn, I find that the adhesive penetrates far better, and secures substantially every single filament of every tuft.

The adhesive is found not only'to hold each separate filament more firmly than in the case of the types of tufted pile carpets described above, but since the adhesive penetrates into the neck of the rivet head, i.e. the part of the tuft compressed in the backing fabric, I find that the splayed filaments of the head together with the adhesive, form an extremely firm bond so that the individual filaments of each tuft cannot be removed, and the tuft itself cannot be either pulled or pushed out of the backing fabric.

The cylindrical tufts may be produced by cutting off predetermined lengths from a supply of yarn, feeding them in sequence to a hollow needle, and causing the needle to deposit the tufts in the backing fabric.

According therefore to my invention a tufted carpet is made by the steps of inerting individual filamentary tufts of yarn of cylindrical form through a backing fabric so that a longer portion of each tuft projects to form a pile, causing or allowing the filaments at the other ends of the tufts (the fixing ends) to splay into a mushroom or rivet head form, and applying an adhesive to the splayed ends of the filaments so as to secure each one separately in po sition in the backing fabric.

Reference should now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a tuft expanding under the effect of a resilient backing material;

FIG. 2 shows a tuft expanding by means of an air blast from a hollow needle;

FIG. 3 shows tuft expansion by means of a ram projecting from a hollow needle;

FIG. 4 shows the elfect of using a specially treated yarn; and

FIG. 5 shows the effect of applying a water base latex to a hydrophilic yarn tuft.

Referring to FIG. 1, it will be seen that a tuft of yarn of cylindrical form and composed of a plurality of filaments is inserted in a backing material, forming a pile end 3 and a fixing end 4. The backing material 2 is a highly resilient material such as a non-woven sheet made for example from slit polypropylene, the threads of which are pushed apart by a needle during delivery of the tuft. On retraction of the needle, the filaments of the backing tend to revert to their original positions close to one another, thus compressing a neck 6 on the tuft and causing the filaments of the fixing end 4 to splay out. For this purpose the yarn should preferably be springy or crimped, and should have a relatively low twist to ensure that the twist does not bind the filaments together too tightly.

FIG. 2 shows the insertion of a tuft 7 in a backing fabric 8 which this time need not be of such a resilient material as that referred to in connection with FIG. 1. The fixing end 9 of the tuft after insertion is subjected during withdrawal of a hollow needle 10, to a blast of air from the needle in the direction of the arrow. This splays out the filaments of the fixing end of the tuft, thus securing the tuft temporarily in position.

FIG. 3 shows a somewhat similar arrangement, but this time a tuft 11 is placed in the backing fabric 12 by means of a hollow needle 13, the tuft being located against a bottom stop 14. As the needle rises, a ram 15 applies pressure to the fixing end 16 of the tuft, causing the filaments thereof to splay out.

FIG. 4 shows two views of a tuft of pro-treated yarn when used for producing a tufted carpet. A tuft 20 is inserted in a backing fabric 21, the tuft being of a twisted yarn which has been compacted before use by application of ultrasonic vibration. Because of the compaction,

the pile end of the tuft does not automatically expand, nor does the fixing end 22. However, when the tuft is subjected to heat, which may be applied to both sides of the backing fabric, the fixing end splays as shown at 24, the heat being applied by an infra-red heater 25. Some of the heat will travel down the neck of the tuft, securing it in position with the backing fabric, and if the heat is maintained long enough, the pile end of the tuft splays out as shown at 26. Some or all of the twist in the original yarn may be lost during the process.

Finally, FIG. 5 shows the injection of a tuft 30 in a backing fabric 31, the fixing end 32 of the tuft being splayed by the application of a water-based latex 33 by a spray. For this purpose, the yarn is preferably hydrophilic, and crimped prior to its use. The application of the water latex, possibly with the addition of heat in order to evaporate the water, causes the fixing end of the tuft to splay, and some of the latex runs down the neck of the tuft and fixes the tuft very firmly in position in the backing fabric.

Other methods of splaying the end of the tuft are also available. Thus after the tufts have been inserted in the backing fabric, they may pass under a lightly loaded softfaced roller which applies a spreading and fixing agent such as the water based latex referred to above. Again, if the filaments are thermoplastic, the fixing ends may be subjected to a sutficiently high temperature to cause them to at least partially fuse; alternatively a tufting material may be used for the tufts having some relatively low temperature melting filaments incorporated in the yarn itself, in which case a somewhat lower temperature can be cmployed for fusing these filaments. The fusing not only fixes the filaments in place, but by bulking at least some of the filaments, cause the others to splay thus fixing the tuft ends firmly in the backing fabric.

Although only FIG. 5 shows the addition of an adhesive, it should of course be realised that an adhesive must be applied to the splayed fixing ends of all the other figures as soon as possible after splaying, in order to ensure that the tufts are not accidentally withdrawn from their positions in the backing fabric when subject to subsequent processes such for example as the rolling up of the fabric and tufts on a take-up roller.

I claim:

1. A tufted carpet comprising a backing fabric, a plurality of filamentary tufts of cylindrical form inserted in said fabric so that each tuft has a long (pile) end and a short (fixing) end, said long and short ends being on opposite sides of said backing fabric with the filaments of said fixing ends splayed apart, and an adhesive layer applied to said fixing ends.

References Cited 7 .UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,285,797 11/1966 Harrison 161-67 2,495,666 1/ 1950 Taubert 156-72 GEORGE -F. LESMES, Primary Examiner M. E. MCCAMISH, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

